the last post Ā in my last blog entry I listed a number of āmodesā for the composition of a poem the peripatetic, the here-and-now view, the political ā the bearing witness mode (was where I got stuck) it seems like a hundred years ago I was in Hong Kong, worrying about Hong Kong⦠though we should still all be worried about Hong Kong ⦠and now Iām home ā and that is a very distracting way to be (more on that in a minute)⦠nevertheless I promisedĀ a poem in the annotation mode what is it, you ask, a poem in the annotation mode? It is a response drafted on the page to an existing poem, already in print ⦠i.e. itās scribble in the margins you could type up later to make a poem and that new poem would have some relationship to the original poem from which you were working / to which you are responding a lot of people worry that this kind of thing will lead to plagiarism and of course it could if you were careless or that way inclined ⦠my principle with this kind of work is however simply āin the presence so a poem comesā i.e. spend time with good poems in order to make a good poem yourself ā¦a lot of what I produce in the way of annotations is only vaguely connected with the original poem⦠however when I think thereās a chance of an actual response I could call a response, then I put the word āafterā at the top of the page Iām working on let me give you a quick example almost at random from out of the mighty pile of already annotated books of poems that need attention (need their annotations typed up to see if they can be poems), seeing the word āafterā at the top of the page I picked from Shuntaro Tanikawaās lovely little Vagabond book (thanks Michael Brennan and friend) a little poem called āMere Wordsā, which starts Having turned into mere words, the mountain is dimly squatting. The port under an overcast sky is thinking of something. and so now, for you, letās see if I can conjure up a poem from my annotations responding, more or less, to this idea
after the words things, happenings silences more brutal dinner lunch breakfast back to sleep came from words to here but fold in armed with sweet saying somewhat less the record shows like a world spun once too many breath after breath staged so much of it has gone on in words despite over and under mute truth of themselves reflected in a page pale air thereās nothing proud about the mountain and itās all standing still testament ā our admiration but everything on itās moving, alive thinking ā where next, whereās home thatās pretty close to just the notes of the page but Iāve played with their order a bit ⦠itās now a draft to come back to and I think I can call it a response because it does speculate along the lines Tanikawa was speculating ⦠so I think this gives you an idea of how the annotation mode could work for you ⦠maybe you want to respond to my response? you see how this is a kind of open-ended conversation? I guess the thing about the modes is that the best thing is to invent your own if you can afford to⦠people who say that they donāt read other peopleās stuff cause they donāt want to be influenced ⦠well, theyāre not really poets⦠to be a poet you have to be constantly studying the craft⦠the only way to be a poet is to make poems; the only way to make poems is to be constantly learning from everything around you and especially from the poems that are everywhere around you if you care to listen and look ⦠and be discerning of course⦠remember thereās more good poetry being written in the world today than ever before (reams of it every day) and as a natural consequence, thereās more bad stuff too⦠it would be caveat emptor if anyone ever got paid for the stuff * anyway with being at home, hereās the thing, I did truly distract myself⦠for instance I wrote a recipe poem which I was going to include here, but there wasnāt room⦠but that led me to think what a nice anthology that could be ⦠a collection of recipe poems by Australian poets⦠one thing leads to another⦠and remember Sterne āādigression is the sunshine of the textā⦠because I kept coming back to the to-do list ⦠very important ⦠thatās how I remembered to do the annotation work for you⦠and here to finish (and to emphasise the importance and value of distraction and how often you should just go with it) are two drafts (from last night and this morning) which are simply in the here-and-now observation mode (or observation and action, I could say, in the case of the fire poem) 1307 pile burning (midwinter thing) little sun we make to chase around and backs to can revolve could chase a fire like that all day better to start with dusk clocks gone home hard to know what to let no hard edges here but that the day runs out watch stand smoke aside and mainly just be watchful breeze attentive have a bucket for the symbol you donāt want this in summer donāt want the fuel around the pile gets going you think what can we add? what has to go? stars fall and stars spin up (other poems are full of them Āā throw old poems on) it falls in on itself needs feeding we find a leant-up decaying door I suspect original the 1948 door through which cows must have come generations a little ragged round the edges damp but the fire was hot we threw it on that door was a way in we burnt it now itās gone adventure in feathers and overcast, no matter well into the morning when this swamp hen takes to the roof one is tempted to think because it is there what use a roof to almost flightless? pond traipser ā the white-arsed swampy Jesus of birds one wonders if the tribe will follow but no, a solo show they havenāt much of a tune but you could always hear them issues of territory, love quarrels now a clatter too at least this one is who holds the roof for decoration and from there gets up in the touching tree half flutter could say climbing precarious to perch its moment swaying then nothing like a thunderbolt it glides to pond spectacular at least to me * now, if after all of this you want more of me, you can go to my website itās kitkelen.com or find me on facebook or on the 366 blog https://project365plus.blogspot.com/ where you can find draft stuff I and others put up every day or howsabout you buy a book of mine like for instance my latest Poor Manās Coat ā Hardanger Poems https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/poor-mans-coat-hardanger-poems or if youāre interested in taking the complete course in poetry writing you could grab yourself a copy of my workbook Throwing Words Together ā 101 Poetry Making Exercises (rare as henās teeth) at a pinch you can message or e-mail me at KitKelen@emeritus.umac.mo donātā you hate the way poets promote themselves so shamelessly? but really whatās a bear to do? bump bump bump on the back of the head coming down the stairs there must be another way but now heās introduced to you think back Pooh says āI do remember, and then when I try to remember, I forgetā